With Saturday’s big game just three days away, we continued our special From the Archive series by taking a look at our FA Cup second-round win over Wrexham in the 2018/19 season.
A tense 0-0 draw at the Racecourse meant that Wrexham would have to make the trip to Rodney Parade for the first time since we played each other in the National League over six years before.
Rodney Parade is always an unforgiving and difficult place to come in the cup, and Wrexham felt the wrath of that on that cold December night.
The visitors had lost manager Sam Ricketts to Shrewsbury Town just a week earlier, and they arrived in South Wales slightly crestfallen. Things did not get off to the best start either, with Luke Young receiving a red card in the 12th minute for a poorly timed challenge on Mickey Demetriou.
Despite this, the National League side were able to hold on for the remainder of the first half, with the game going in level at half-time.
Mickey Flynn clearly had other ideas, though, and whatever he said to the team at half-time clearly rallied them, as they came out in the second half with a fire in their bellies. Padraig Amond, a man synonymous with iconic FA Cup goals at Rodney Parade, got the party started just four minutes into the half, heading home from a Fraser Franks cross.
With 59 minutes on the clock, we doubled our lead thanks to Jamille Matt. A third would come just six minutes later; Amond fired a low volley across the edge of the six-yard box, with Wrexham defender Mark Carrington turning the ball into his own net.
There was still time for one more in the stoppage time. Dan Butler fired a spectacular striker past Rob Lainton from distance, securing our spot in the third round and giving Newport fans an early Christmas present.